Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari sounded off in a halftime interview in Kentucky's game vs. Duke. / Mark Zerof, US Presswire

by Scott M Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports

by Scott M Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports

In a halftime interview with ESPN's Andy Katz, Kentucky coach John Calipari sounded off in frustration with Duke players who he thought were "flopping."

With Kentucky trailing 33-31 at the half, Katz asked Calipari how the Wildcats would tighten up the defense to stop post penetration in the second half.

It started off like a typical, boring halftime interview, before Calipari provided us with a money quote.

"Post defense is hurting us, and then some threes," Calipari started. "But for us to be in this situation, I'm going to be honest, I'm happy. We got in a little bit of foul trouble but not much."

Then Katz interrupted, asking "Why?"

"We're still...We've got...they're flopping all over the place. In the NBA, they'd all be suspended."

Yep, he said that. Calipari wasn't about to tiptoe around the always-contentious issue of charge/block calls.

After Duke beat Kentucky 75-68, Calipari shrugged off the comments, telling reporters, "It was a joke. You guys at Duke can take a joke, right?"

The quote buzzed around Twitter during halftime, which prompted some snarky tweets. The best? Sports Illustrated's Andy Staples: "Give Cal this. The man knows that if you troll Duke, you win the populace."

Four of Kentucky's nine turnovers during the first half came off charges. There were 19 combined fouls in the first half,10 called on Kentucky and nine on Duke.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski disagreed with Calipari's "flopping" suggestion when he was interviewed after the game.

"I thought we took some amazing charges and probably could have taken a few more," he told reporters. "There's a difference between a charge and a flop. A flop means you don't take any contact.

"We don't make any money so we can't be fined. I would hope that anybody who watches the game would say that our kids played outstanding defense."

Then, when asked about Kentucky playing without point guard Ryan Harrow, Coach K responded with: